Kay Roberts

Kay Roberts and Kathy Kuryla are a “quilting team”: business partners and longtime friends. They own a 4000 square foot quilt shop in Franklin, Tennessee that is full of beautiful fabrics, patterns and notions, and a large classroom for teaching all aspects of quilting. Kathy and Kay both had a passion for quilting and that friendship first evolved into vending at quilt shows. Two years later they opened a small quilt shop, The Quilting Squares. That shop has grown over the years through two more moves and is happily thriving in today’s growing quilting industry.

Kathy and Kay have been teaching on the national level at ASQ and NQA shows since 2004 and have also judged quilt shows on the national and local levels. They travel to guilds throughout the country to lecture and teach workshops. They’ve developed a series of patterns for beginning quilters called “It’s Sew Easy” that utilize modern methods to make complex-looking patterns very do-able. These have proven to be very popular and it is from this series of patterns that Kay and Kathy will be instructing the retreat. Also of interest, the dynamite teaching team is now embarking on a series of Civil War era replica quilt patterns using reproduction fabrics.

Kay Roberts grew up in a household of sewing and quilting and it was always a part of her life. Her early career was in Home Economics and she ran a sewing workroom for several interior designers for years. But quilting was a passion that just wouldn’t go away, so she took it to the next level.

Kay specializes in teaching the Square in a Square technique for quilts, a revolutionary tool for easy piecing. Besides the actual technique, Kay teaches a series of classes that utilize the approach to make precise, beautiful quilts. Another of Kay’s specialties is organizing your many remnants through “stash therapy” classes that create gorgeous scrap quilts. She also enjoys teaching embroidery work, purse and bag construction, and children’s clothing. Kay’s laid-back style of teaching helps students gain confidence in their own creative visions.

Kathy Kuryla started her love of quilting by taking a beginning quilt class before having children. She worked in the medical field over the years and quilted as a hobby until her partnership with Kay developed into their business.

Kathy has several special areas of expertise. She loves to introduce beginners to quilting. Through instilling confidence and teaching the skills required, beginners learn the special joys that come with their first quilt. One of Kathy’s specialties is teaching students how to machine quilt on home machines. Her combination of precise methods but encouraging and easy-going approach helps quilters learn just how talented and capable they can be.

Kathy’s experience has been a perfect complement to Kay’s talents. It is this combined teaching style that makes their retreats here at Butterfly Meadows Inn & Farm so successful.